, sports_nickname = , motto = The Paradise on Earth (Behesht-e rooy-e Zamin) , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_seal = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , settlement_type = City , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Iran#Caspian Sea , pushpin_label_position = bottom , pushpin_map_caption = Location of Ramsar in Iran , pushpin_mapsize = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name =

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, subdivision_type1 =

Province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

, subdivision_name1 = Mazandaran , subdivision_type2 =

County A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

, subdivision_name2 = Ramsar , subdivision_type3 =

Bakhsh A ( fa, بخش, also romanized as ) is a third-level administrative division of Iran. While sometimes translated as "county," it is more accurately translated as "district," similar to a township in the United States or a district of En ...

, subdivision_name3 = Central , leader_title = Mayor (Ŝahrdār) , leader_name = Mohsen Morradi , established_title = , established_date = 1943 , area_magnitude = , area_total_km2 = , area_total_sq_mi = , area_land_km2 = , area_land_sq_mi = , area_water_km2 = , area_water_sq_mi = , area_water_percent = , area_urban_km2 = , area_urban_sq_mi = , area_metro_km2 = , area_metro_sq_mi = , population_total = 35,997 , population_as_of = 2016 Census , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , population_note = , population_metro = , population_urban = , population_density_km2 = , population_density_sq_mi = , timezone =

IRST An infrared search and track (IRST) system (sometimes known as infrared sighting and tracking) is a method for detecting and tracking objects which give off infrared radiation, such as the infrared signatures of jet aircraft and helicopters. IR ...

, utc_offset = +3:30 , timezone_DST =

IRDT Iran Standard Time (IRST) or Iran Time (IT) is the time zone used in Iran. Iran uses a UTC offset UTC+03:30. IRST is defined by the 52.5 degrees east meridian, the same meridian which defines the Iranian calendar and is the official meridian of ...

, utc_offset_DST = +4:30 , elevation_m = -21 , elevation_ft = , website
Sh-Ramsar.ir
, footnotes = Ramsar ( fa, رامسر, also Romanized as Rámsar and Ránsar; formerly, Sakht Sar) is the capital of Ramsar County, Mazandaran Province,

. In 2012 its population was 33,018, in 9,421 families. Ramsar lies on the coast of the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

. It was also known as Sakhtsar in the past. The climate of Ramsar is hot and humid in summer and mild in winter. The proximity of the forest and the sea in this city has given a special beauty to this city and this attracts tourists in all seasons. Ramsar has an airport. The city of Ramsar was a small village in western Mazandaran until the Qajar period, and during the first Pahlavi period, with the rule of Reza Shah and with the support of the government, it became a beautiful city with many tourist facilities. Ramsar is the westernmost county and city in Mazandaran. It borders the

to the north, Gilan province to the west, Qazvin Province to the south, and Tonekabon to the east.

People

The Gilaks form the majority of the cities population. Their dialect of Gilaki is similar to that found in eastern Gilan and belongs to the Eastern or Bie-Pish branch.

History

In 1971, Ramsar hosted the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance.

Tourism

The front yard of The old hotel,Ramsar, 1973

Ramsar is a popular sea resort for Iranian tourists. The town also offers

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by c ...

s, the green forests of the

Alborz The Alborz ( fa, البرز) range, also spelled as Alburz, Elburz or Elborz, is a mountain range in northern Iran that stretches from the border of Azerbaijan along the western and entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea and finally runs nort ...

Mountains, the vacation palace of the last

Shah Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...

, and the Hotel Ramsar. south of Ramsar and above sea level in the

Alborz mountains The Alborz ( fa, البرز) range, also spelled as Alburz, Elburz or Elborz, is a mountain range in northern Iran that stretches from the border of Azerbaijan along the western and entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea and finally runs no ...

is Javaher Deh village, which is an important tourist attraction in Ramsar county.

Ramsar Convention

The Convention on Wetlands, signed in Ramsar in 1971, is an intergovernmental treaty which provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. There are presently 160 contracting parties to the convention, with 1920 wetland sites, totaling , designated for inclusion in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance. Presently, there are 160 contracting parties, up from 119 in 2000 and from 18 initial signatory nations in 1971. Signatories meet every three years as the Conference of the Contracting Parties (COP), the first held in Cagliari, Italy, in 1980. Amendments to the original convention have been agreed to in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

(in 1982) and Regina, Canada (in 1987).

Climate

Ramsar has a humid subtropical climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

: ''Cfa,'' Trewartha'': Cf''), with warm, humid summers and cool, damp winters. Northern Iran, as well as most portions of Iran, is separated by mountains. As a result, the air in

Teheran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

is very dry. When driving to Ramsar from Teheran, one drives up the mountains until arriving at a tunnel. On passing through this tunnel and coming out the other side, the environment is very different; it is more humid and green due to moisture from the Caspian sea, and this abundance of mist and rain is part of the attraction for tourists from the desert zones of Iran.

Radioactivity

Ramsar's Talesh Mahalleh district is the most radioactive inhabited area known on Earth, due to nearby

s and building materials originating from them. A combined population of 2,000 residents from this district and other high radiation neighborhoods receive an average radiation dose of 10 mSv per year, ten times more than the ICRP recommended limit for exposure to the public from artificial sources. Record levels were found in a house where the

effective radiation dose Effective dose is a dose quantity in the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) system of radiological protection.ICRP publication, 103 para 103 It is the tissue-weighted sum of the equivalent doses in all specified tissues and ...

due to external radiation was 131 mSv/a, and the

committed dose The committed dose in radiological protection is a measure of the stochastic health risk due to an intake of radioactive material into the human body. Stochastic in this context is defined as the ''probability'' of cancer induction and genetic dam ...

from

radon Radon is a chemical element with the symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colourless, odourless, tasteless noble gas. It occurs naturally in minute quantities as an intermediate step in the normal radioactive decay chains through ...

was 72 mSv/a. This unique case is over 80 times higher than the world average background radiation. The prevailing model of

radiation-induced cancer Exposure to ionizing radiation is known to increase the future incidence of cancer, particularly leukemia. The mechanism by which this occurs is well understood, but quantitative models predicting the level of risk remain controversial. The most wi ...

posits that the risk rises linearly with dose at a rate of 5% per Sv. If this

linear no-threshold model The linear no-threshold model (LNT) is a dose-response model used in radiation protection to estimate stochastic health effects such as radiation-induced cancer, genetic mutations and teratogenic effects on the human body due to exposure to io ...

is correct, it should be possible to observe an increased incidence of cancer in Ramsar through careful long-term studies currently underway. Early anecdotal evidence from local doctors and preliminary cytogenetic studies suggested that there may be no such harmful effect, and possibly even a radio-adaptive effect. More recent epidemiological data show a slightly reduced lung cancer rate and non-significantly elevated morbidity, but the small size of the population (only 1800 inhabitants in the high-background areas) will require a longer monitoring period to draw definitive conclusions. Furthermore, there are questions regarding possible non-cancer effects of the radiation background. An Iranian study has shown that people in the area have a significantly higher expression of

CD69 CD69 (Cluster of Differentiation 69) is a human transmembrane C-Type lectin protein encoded by the gene. It is an early activation marker that is expressed in hematopoietic stem cells, T cells, and many other cell types in the immune system. It is ...

gene and also a higher incidence of stable and unstable chromosomal aberrations. Chromosomal aberrations have been found in other studies.

Radiation hormesis Radiation hormesis is the hypothesis that low doses of ionizing radiation (within the region of and just above natural background levels) are beneficial, stimulating the activation of repair mechanisms that protect against disease, that are not ...

was observed in a study that also recommended that Ramsar does provide justification to relax existing regulatory dose limits. Pending further study, the potential health risks had moved scientists in 2001–02 to call for relocation of the residents and regulatory control of new construction. The radioactivity is due to the local geology. Underground water dissolves

radium Radium is a chemical element with the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rathe ...

in uraniferous

igneous rock Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma o ...

and carries it to the surface through at least nine known hot springs. These are used as spas by locals and tourists. Some of the radium precipitates into

travertine Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and even rusty varieties. It is formed by a p ...

, a form of limestone, and the rest diffuses into the

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt Dirt is an unclean matter, especially when in contact with a person's clothes, skin, or possessions. In such cases, they are said to become dirty. Common types of dirt include: * Debri ...

, where it is absorbed by crops and mixes with drinking water. Residents have unknowingly used the radioactive limestone as a building material for their homes. The stone irradiates the inhabitants and generates

gas which is usually seen to promote

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

. Crops contribute 72 µSv/yr to a critical group of 50 residents.

International relations

Twin towns and sister cities

Ramsar is twinned with: * Puerto Montt,

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

(Since 28 January 2009) * Al Wakrah,

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

(Since 14 June 2010) *

Shiraz Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the population of the city was 1,565,572 p ...

(Since 9 January 2013)

Notable people

* Mohammad Reza Khalatbari (b. 1983) - Football player *

Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei ( fa, اسفندیار رحیم‌مشایی; born 16 November 1960) is an Iranian conservative politician and former intelligence officer. As a senior Cabinet member in the administration of President Mahmoud Ahmadineja ...

(b. 1960) - Politician * Hossein Khalatbari (1949-1985) - Iranian fighter pilot * Elika Abdolrazzaghi (b. 1979) - Cinema, stage and TV actress *

Mohammad-Ali Taskhiri Mohammad-Ali Taskhiri (19 October 1944 – 18 August 2020) was an Iranian cleric and diplomat. During the 1980s, Taskhiri served as the Iranian representative to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and was involved in promoting Iranian int ...

(1948-2020) - Iranian cleric and diplomat * Rahim Ebadi (b. 1957) - Politician

Gallery

File:Hotelghadim.JPG, The Old Hotel of Ramsar File:Ramsar-shah-table.JPG, The desk of Mohammad Reza Shah File:جنگل دالیخانی .jpg, Dalikhani Forest File:Palais ramsar.jpg, Marble palace in Ramsar File:Ramsar Hotel.jpg, Ramsar Hotel File:جواهرده.jpeg, Javaher Deh File:Ramsar Walkway.jpg, A walkway in front of the old hotel File:جنگل دالیخانی.jpg, Dalikhani Forest File:North of Iran - Ramsar (palace).jpg, A palace in Ramsar File:Mazandaran Ramsar Coast.jpg, Ramsar Caspian coast File:Ramsar bridge, 2016.JPG, Ramsar Bridge File:Ramsar, Mazandaran Bazar, 23 April 2016.jpg, Ramsar Bazaar File:Baazar Ramsar.jpg, Ramsar International Shopping File:Ramsarfishmarket.jpg, Ramsar Fish Market File:Ramsarsea.jpg, Ramsar aea

References

External links

Ramsar's tourism

{{Authority control Cities in Mazandaran Province Populated coastal places in Iran Populated places on the Caspian Sea